Ghost: Marker

Ghost: Marker is a party/raid mob marking utility.

Unlike a lot of other marking mods that try to do awesome things like remember what mobs you like assigned to which mark, Ghost: Marker is a simple tool that allows the raid leader/assistant to assign marks to players in the group (yes, they'll still need to be promoted to do the actual marking). It also works in a party which might make pugging that heroic just a little easier.

These assignments are shared with other raid users using Ghost: Marker, presumably your tanks and CC players.

Features
- Simple assignment of raid marks using drop-down list.
- Announcement of the assignments to party/raid chat.
- Ability to apply marks via hotkey, macro or automatically when certain spells/abilities are used.

Configuration
I'll be cleaning up the user interface in a later release, but for now, just type /mark to access the configuration screen. You'll see eight drop-down lists, one next to the name of each raid mark. These lists contain the names of the players in your party or raid. Simply choose who you want assigned to each mark.

Even though you can assign more than two marks to a given player, Ghost: Marker only makes use of up to two per player. I'll be adding in a UI restriction in a future build.

These assignments are sent to other Ghost: Marker users in the raid as you choose them, but if someone joins the raid after assignments are done (or their settings just screw up thanks to a crash or whatever), you can click the 'Broadcast' button to send all assignments out again from scratch.

To the right of these lists you'll find the icons representing your auto-spells...

Auto-Spells
If switched on (and each time you log in, it is switched on - use a keybinding to toggle it on and off) then Ghost: Marker will automatically apply your assigned raid icons to mobs.

For example, I'm assigned Skull. My auto-spell is set to Mangle - Bear. I target an unmarked mob, run up to it and Mangle it, it will be marked with a Skull.

Another example is perhaps a Death Knight tank, assigned Square and Moon. His auto-spell is set to Death and Decay. If he targets one unmarked mob, and sets his focus to another, then drops a DnD on them both, his target will earn the Square icon, while his focus will earn the Moon. All other mobs found caught in the DnD will not have their marks affected (if they have any at all).

Carrying this further, Ghost: Marker tracks which mobs are currently marked, and what they're marked with. Using your auto-spell to quickly Mangle an unmarked mob (or a mob with a different mark altogether) will not cause your marks to switch around all the time. Only when there's no known mob alive with any of your assigned icons will they be re-used. This lets you safely generate threat on stray mobs without affecting the marking.

Of course, you can use the hotkeys you set up in WoW's standard keybinding interface (look for the Ghost: Marker section as seen in the second screenshot here) to override the marking at any stage.

Furthermore, if the mob with your highest priority marker dies, and you switch your focus mob into your target and begin bashing it with an auto-spell, Ghost: Marker will remove your second icon from it (if you were assigned one) and will apply your high priority icon to it instead. If you gain a new focus in the meantime, it will be marked with your secondary mark.

You can specify up to five auto-spells if you like. Simply drag a spell from your spell book (not your pet's, yours) and into the configuration window. If you want to remove an auto-spell, hold the Control key and click the spell as it appears in the configuration window. Also note, each auto-spell used will result in the same action - your first mark goes on your target, and your second mark (if any) goes on your focus (if any).

Oddities
Not all things are perfect in a WoW world. For example, if you mark up a mob, and later on, before dying, that mob despawns (think the Guardians of Icecrown in the Kel'Thuzad fight), then Ghost: Marker will wrongly think that mark is still in use. When these sorts of things happen, be sure to use the 'Reset Mark Tracker' hotkey you've assigned yourself to clear this confusion up so that marking occurs correctly from that point onward.

Also, the tracking works fine if everyone doing the marking is using Ghost: Marker. If there are marks that are used in assignments going up by other players, then you can hold the 'Alt' key down and pass your mouse pointer over those mobs so that the tracker is aware of the markings.

Change Log

0.5.6 beta: 2009-08-27
- When assigned a single mark, that mark will now be able to be applied via auto-spells to your focus.

0.5.4 beta: 2009-02-12
- Added a configuration option to automatically reset the mark tracker when leaving combat (including when you die).

0.5.3 beta: 2009-02-11
- Fixed a bug with mark tracking that could lead to marks jumping around when they shouldn't.

0.5.2 beta: 2009-02-10
- Minor bug fix.

0.5.1 beta: 2009-02-10
- Added drag-drop configuration of auto-spells.

0.5 beta: 2009-02-10
- Initial release.